Nefertiti is probably antiquity's most famous face; her bust, now housed in Berlin instantly recognizable. Surprisingly, the woman herself is shrouded in mystery. Even her fate is obscure. In year 12 of the reign of her husband Akhenaten she suddenly vanishes from the record. Did she die, was she banished for some heinous but now forgotten crime, did she continue to live on, to rule as the shadowy Smenkhkare? Despite over a century of intense scholarly activity Egypt's Beautiful Woman is as obscure as ever.
By sticking to the facts Joyce Tyldesley could have finished up writing a very dull book. Instead she has produced an excellent and readable account of what is known about Nefertiti. Alterative theories are examined and compared with the archaeological evidence. It is clear that Tyldesley has her own ideas, but these never get in the way of the facts. Only in her discussion of the enigmatic tomb KV 55 did I find her analysis of the evidence questionable; here she rejects the most recent estimate of the age of the body found in KV 55 and instead uses a kind of rough average of all the estimates, so ruling out the possibility that the body is that of Akhenaten and strengthening her argument in favour of Smenkhkare.
In general, however this is an excellent and extremely interesting book. I definitely recommend it.
Penguin Books, 232 pages
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